§7.336Δίωνα γὰρ ἐγὼ σαφῶς οἶδα, ὡς οἷόν τε περὶ ἀνθρώπων ἄνθρωπον διισχυρίζεσθαι, ὅτι, τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰ κατέσχεν, ὡς οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐπʼ ἄλλο γε σχῆμα ἀρχῆς ἐτράπετο ἢ ἐπὶ τὸ Συρακούσας μὲν πρῶτον, τὴν πατρίδα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, ἐπεὶ τὴν δουλείαν αὐτῆς ἀπήλλαξεν φαιδρύνας ἐλευθέρας δʼ ἐν σχήματι κατέστησεν, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτʼ ἂν πάσῃ μηχανῇ ἐκόσμησεν νόμοις τοῖς προσήκουσίν τε καὶ ἀρίστοις τοὺς πολίτας, τό τε ἐφεξῆς τούτοις προυθυμεῖτʼ ἂν πρᾶξαι, πᾶσαν Σικελίαν κατοικίζειν καὶ ἐλευθέραν ἀπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ποιεῖν, τοὺς μὲν ἐκβάλλων, τοὺς δὲ χειρούμενος ῥᾷον Ἱέρωνος·
For I know clearly concerning Dion, as far as a man can assert of a man, that if he had held the rule, he would never have turned to any other form of government than, first, having freed his own homeland, Syracuse, from its slavery and made it bright and established it in a free form, he would after this have adorned the citizens by every means with suitable and best laws, and would next have been eager to accomplish what followed upon these: to colonize all Sicily and to make it free from the barbarians, expelling some and subduing others more easily than Hiero.
τούτων δʼ αὖ γενομένων διʼ ἀνδρὸς δικαίου τε καὶ ἀνδρείου καὶ σώφρονος καὶ φιλοσόφου, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀρετῆς ἂν πέρι γενέσθαι δόξαν τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἥπερ ἄν, εἰ Διονύσιος ἐπείσθη, παρὰ πᾶσιν ἂν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἀνθρώποις ἀπέσωσεν γενομένη.
And if these things in turn had been achieved through a man just, brave, temperate, and philosophical, the same opinion concerning virtue would have arisen among the multitude as would have been preserved among all men, so to speak, if Dionysius had been persuaded.
νῦν δὲ ἤ πού τις δαίμων ἤ τις ἀλιτήριος ἐμπεσὼν ἀνομίᾳ καὶ ἀθεότητι καὶ τὸ μέγιστον τόλμαις ἀμαθίας, ἐξ ἧς πάντα κακὰ πᾶσιν ἐρρίζωται καὶ βλαστάνει καὶ εἰς ὕστερον ἀποτελεῖ καρπὸν τοῖς γεννήσασιν πικρότατον, αὕτη πάντα τὸ δεύτερον ἀνέτρεψέν τε καὶ ἀπώλεσεν.
But as it is, some deity or some destroying spirit, falling upon them with lawlessness and godlessness, and most of all with the daring of ignorance—from which all evils for all men have taken root and sprout and later yield the bitterest fruit for those who engendered them—this ignorance overturned all things for the second time and destroyed them.
νῦν δὲ δὴ εὐφημῶμεν χάριν οἰωνοῦ τὸ τρίτον.
But now, for the sake of a good omen, let us keep silence from ill-omened words for the third time.
ὅμως δὲ μιμεῖσθαι μὲν συμβουλεύω Δίωνα ὑμῖν τοῖς φίλοις τήν τε τῆς πατρίδος εὔνοιαν καὶ τὴν τῆς τροφῆς σώφρονα δίαιταν, ἐπὶ λῳόνων δὲ ὀρνίθων τὰς ἐκείνου βουλήσεις πειρᾶσθαι ἀποτελεῖν—αἳ δὲ ἦσαν, ἀκηκόατε παρʼ ἐμοῦ σαφῶς—τὸν δὲ μὴ δυνάμενον ὑμῶν Δωριστὶ ζῆν κατὰ τὰ πάτρια, διώκοντα δὲ τόν τε τῶν Δίωνος σφαγέων καὶ τὸν Σικελικὸν βίον, μήτε παρακαλεῖν μήτε οἴεσθαι πιστὸν ἄν τι καὶ ὑγιὲς πρᾶξαί ποτε, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους παρακαλεῖν ἐπὶ πάσης Σικελίας κατοικισμόν τε καὶ ἰσονομίαν ἔκ τε αὐτῆς Σικελίας καὶ ἐκ Πελοποννήσου συμπάσης, φοβεῖσθαι δὲ μηδὲ Ἀθήνας·
Nevertheless, I advise you, his friends, to imitate Dion's goodwill toward his homeland and his temperate way of life in his rearing, and under better omens to attempt to accomplish his wishes—and what they were, you have heard clearly from me—and that whoever of you is unable to live in the Dorian manner according to ancestral customs, but pursues the life of the murderers of Dion and the Sicilian life, you should neither summon nor think that he will ever do anything trustworthy and sound; but the others you should summon to the colonization and equal laws of all Sicily, both from Sicily itself and from the whole Peloponnesus, and do not fear even Athens.
εἰσὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖ πάντων ἀνθρώπων διαφέροντες πρὸς ἀρετήν, ξενοφόνων τε ἀνδρῶν μισοῦντες τόλμας.
For there too are men pre-eminent in virtue over all other men, hating the daring deeds of guest-slayers.
εἰ δʼ οὖν ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερα γένοιτʼ ἄν, κατεπείγουσιν δὲ ὑμᾶς αἱ τῶν στάσεων πολλαὶ καὶ παντοδαπαὶ φυόμεναι ἑκάστης ἡμέρας διαφοραί, εἰδέναι μέν που χρὴ πάντα τινὰ ἄνδρα, ᾧ καὶ βραχὺ δόξης ὀρθῆς μετέδωκεν θεία τις τύχη, ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν παῦλα κακῶν τοῖς στασιάσασιν, πρὶν ἂν οἱ κρατήσαντες μάχαις καὶ ἐκβολαῖς ἀνθρώπων καὶ σφαγαῖς μνησικακοῦντες καὶ ἐπὶ τιμωρίας παύσωνται τρεπόμενοι τῶν ἐχθρῶν, §7.337ἐγκρατεῖς δὲ ὄντες αὑτῶν, θέμενοι νόμους κοινοὺς μηδὲν μᾶλλον πρὸς ἡδονὴν αὑτοῖς ἢ τοῖς ἡττηθεῖσιν κειμένους, ἀναγκάσωσιν αὐτοὺς χρῆσθαι τοῖς νόμοις διτταῖς οὔσαις ἀνάγκαις, αἰδοῖ καὶ φόβῳ, φόβῳ μὲν διὰ τὸ κρείττους αὐτῶν εἶναι δεικνύντες τὴν βίαν, αἰδοῖ δὲ αὖ διὰ τὸ κρείττους φαίνεσθαι περί τε τὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ τοῖς νόμοις μᾶλλον ἐθέλοντές τε καὶ δυνάμενοι δουλεύειν.
But if indeed these things should come later, and you are pressed by the many and various differences of factions arising every day, every man whom a certain divine fortune has endowed with even a little right opinion must indeed know that there is no cessation of evils for those who form factions until those who have conquered in battles and banishments of men and slaughterings cease from bearing malice and turning themselves toward vengeance upon their enemies, but, mastering themselves, having established common laws laid down no more for their own pleasure than for that of those who have been defeated, compel them to use the laws by two necessities, respect and fear; fear by showing their force to be superior to them, and respect in turn by showing themselves superior to pleasures and more willing and able to be slaves to the laws.
ἄλλως δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ὡς ἄν ποτε κακῶν λήξαι πόλις ἐν αὑτῇ στασιάσασα, ἀλλὰ στάσεις καὶ ἔχθραι καὶ μίση καὶ ἀπιστίαι ταῖς οὕτω διατεθείσαις πόλεσιν αὐταῖς πρὸς αὑτὰς ἀεὶ γίγνεσθαι φιλεῖ.
Otherwise, there is no way that a city in faction within itself could ever cease from evils, but factions, enmities, hatreds, and distrusts always love to arise in cities so disposed toward themselves.
τοὺς δὴ κρατήσαντας ἀεὶ χρή, ὅτανπερ ἐπιθυμήσωσιν σωτηρίας, αὐτοὺς ἐν αὑτοῖς ἄνδρας προκρῖναι τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὓς ἂν πυνθάνωνται ἀρίστους ὄντας, πρῶτον μὲν γέροντας, καὶ παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας κεκτημένους οἴκοι καὶ προγόνους αὑτῶν ὅτι μάλιστα πολλούς τε καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ ὀνομαστοὺς καὶ κτῆσιν κεκτημένους πάντας ἱκανήν—ἀριθμὸν δὲ εἶναι μυριάνδρῳ πόλει πεντήκοντα ἱκανοὶ τοιοῦτοι—τούτους δὴ δεήσεσιν καὶ τιμαῖς ὅτι μεγίσταις οἴκοθεν μεταπέμψασθαι, μεταπεμψαμένους δὲ ὀμόσαντας δεῖσθαι καὶ κελεύειν θεῖναι νόμους, μήτε νικήσασιν μήτε νικηθεῖσιν νέμειν πλέον, τὸ δὲ ἴσον καὶ κοινὸν πάσῃ τῇ πόλει.
Those who have conquered must indeed always, whenever they desire safety, choose from among themselves men of the Greeks whom they learn to be the best, first of all old men, possessing both children and wives at home and ancestors who are as numerous, good, and famous as possible, and all possessing sufficient property—and fifty such men are sufficient for a city of ten thousand citizens—and these they must summon from their homes with the greatest entreaties and honors, and having summoned them, they must, after swearing oaths, entreat and command them to establish laws, distributing no more to the victors than to the vanquished, but what is equal and common to the whole city.
τεθέντων δὲ τῶν νόμων ἐν τούτῳ δὴ τὰ πάντα ἐστίν.
And when the laws have been established, everything indeed depends on this.
ἂν μὲν γὰρ οἱ νενικηκότες ἥττους αὑτοὺς τῶν νόμων μᾶλλον τῶν νενικημένων παρέχωνται, πάντʼ ἔσται σωτηρίας τε καὶ εὐδαιμονίας μεστὰ καὶ πάντων κακῶν ἀποφυγή· εἰ δὲ μή, μήτʼ ἐμὲ μήτʼ ἄλλον κοινωνὸν παρακαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν μὴ πειθόμενον τοῖς νῦν ἐπεσταλμένοις.
For if the victors show themselves more subject to the laws than the vanquained, all will be full of safety and happiness and an escape from all evils; but if not, let them summon neither me nor anyone else as a partner against one who does not obey the instructions now sent.
ταῦτα γάρ ἐστιν ἀδελφὰ ὧν τε δίων ὧν τʼ ἐγὼ ἐπεχειρήσαμεν Συρακούσαις εὖ φρονοῦντες συμπρᾶξαι, δεύτερα μήν· πρῶτα δʼ ἦν ἃ τὸ πρῶτον ἐπεχειρήθη μετʼ αὐτοῦ Διονυσίου πραχθῆναι πᾶσιν κοινὰ ἀγαθά, τύχη δέ τις ἀνθρώπων κρείττων διεφόρησεν.
For these are sister to those things which both Dion and I attempted to accomplish together for Syracuse with good intentions, though they are secondary; and the primary things were those which were first attempted to be done with Dionysius himself for the common good of all, but a certain fortune superior to men scattered them.
τὰ δὲ νῦν ὑμεῖς πειρᾶσθε εὐτυχέστερον αὐτὰ ἀγαθῇ πρᾶξαι μοίρᾳ καὶ θείᾳ τινὶ τύχῃ.
But now do you attempt to accomplish them more fortunately by a good portion and a certain divine fortune.
συμβουλὴ μὲν δὴ καὶ ἐπιστολὴ εἰρήσθω καὶ ἡ παρὰ Διονύσιον ἐμὴ προτέρα ἄφιξις· ἡ δὲ δὴ ὑστέρα πορεία τε καὶ πλοῦς ὡς εἰκότως τε ἅμα καὶ ἐμμελῶς γέγονεν, ᾧ μέλει ἀκούειν ἔξεστι τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο.
Let the advice and the letter indeed be spoken of, and also my former arrival to Dionysius; and as to how the latter journey and voyage happened both reasonably and fittingly, he who cares to hear may do so after this.